"Is what he said true?" Li Zi asked in a low voice in Zhang Yang's ear.

What the tour guide said was so strange. His tone and expression, plus the content of his words, made it seem as if the researchers at the British Museum were fools.

And one has to be extremely stupid to conduct experiments on a bronze artifact worth hundreds of millions, right?
"I don't quite believe this." Zhang Yang shook his head and replied.

Although it sounds like something the British could do, to Zhang Yang, who is familiar with bronze ware, these spots of rust are obviously not just the result of an experiment.

Because the Shuangyang Zun itself has a layer of rust, in order to make it look like this, it must be done in the following ways:

Scrape off the original rust;
Expose the object to a damp and rust-prone environment;
At the same time, if you see rust, don't do anything about it. After all, if you see new green rust, you can solve it by using some silver oxide to seal it.

To be able to meet these three conditions at once, the researchers at the British Museum must be geniuses.

Zhang Yang didn't want to think that the other party was so stupid, but the tour guide stood in front of the counter and explained for a long time, and someone even recorded the whole process, but the staff of the British Museum showed no intention of coming over to explain.

Did they acquiesce?

No, it was probably because they didn’t understand Chinese and didn’t know the tour guide was arranging them.

Since there were many tourists waiting to visit behind Zhang Yang and Li Zi, they couldn't stay for long. After taking photos and videos of the items in the cabinet, they prepared to leave.

I'd better study the details slowly after I get back. Although Zhang Yang is excellent in making bronze ware, he doesn't have a super brain after all, and he can't remember too many things.

Not long after the two turned and walked out of the crowd, a familiar face suddenly appeared in front of them.

It was the middle-aged lady who had just quarreled with the British guy and looked very knowledgeable.

The old lady didn't recognize Zhang Yang, but she recognized Li Zi as the girl who had just chatted with her, and immediately walked up to her with a smile on her face.

"Big sister, what a coincidence, I meet you again, are you here to see the bronze artifacts?"

"We have finished looking at the Shuangyangzun and are preparing to look at the ones from the next era." Li Zi replied with a smile.

This was a perfectly normal statement, but the aunt replied:
"The Shuangyang Zun is nothing to look at, and it's not really here. If you want to see bronze artifacts, you have to look at the Kanghou Gui."

"Kanghou Gui?" Li Zi turned to look at Zhang Yang in confusion.

What she wanted to say was obvious: Isn't the most precious bronze vessel the Shuangyangzun? How come the one here is fake? And what is the Kanghou Gui?
But there are a lot of people outside now, and Li Zi didn't want to look like a curious baby, so she just asked with her eyes.

Fortunately, the two of them had a good understanding of each other. Zhang Yang understood what she meant. He quietly touched the palm of her hand and said that he would explain it later.

Now, Zhang Yang has something more important to ask the old lady in front of him.

"Sister, you said this Shuangyangzun is not real? Where did you get that from?"

"Young man, you probably don't understand bronze ware, right?" the old lady asked.

"Well, I really don't understand." Zhang Yang nodded and answered obediently.

"That's no wonder. Anyone who knows a little about bronze artifacts should be able to find that the double-ram urn on display now is completely different from the one from more than a decade ago."

"This thing has been unearthed for decades. The oxide layer on the surface is very stable. As long as it is not suddenly placed in a high temperature and high humidity environment, in a constant temperature and low humidity space like a display cabinet, the surface will not change at all after decades."

"Look at the bronze artifacts in our own country, in the National Museum, and in the Sanxingdui Museum. How could they have changed so much in just over a decade?"

"So this Englishman must have lost the real one and put a fake one here to fool people!" "Ah? Isn't that right?"

Li Zi had just heard the tour guide explain the changes of the Shuangyangzun, so of course she couldn't accept the aunt's explanation at this moment.

She simply repeated what the tour guide said:
"The new green rust on the Twin Sheep Zun is because they did an experiment..."

"Haha." The old lady laughed softly after hearing this, shook her head and said, "Even a fool wouldn't believe this explanation."

"Handsome guy, do you believe it?"

Although the aunt was asking Zhang Yang, he did not intend to answer, because at this time no matter whether he believed it or not, it would be wrong.

Seeing that Zhang Yang didn't react, the aunt knew that she was asking for trouble, so she turned around and explained to Li Zi:

"Big sister, look at how many bronze artifacts there are here. If you want to do the experiment, will you take the most valuable one?"

"The British are not stupid!"

"Besides, there is another very important thing that can prove my point - in 2017, the British Museum was invited to hold an exhibition in our National Museum. At that time, they brought back nine cultural relics from the China Pavilion, which were basically representative cultural relics."

"For example, the jade cong from the Liangzhu culture, the Liubo figurines from the Eastern Han Dynasty celadon, the tri-color civil servant figurines from the tomb of Liu Tingxun from the Tang Dynasty, the blue-and-white porcelain plates and dragon-headed double-eared vases from the Yuan Dynasty, and so on."

"The only thing missing was this double-ram statue."

"You know, the Shuangyangzun is one of the top three bronze artifacts, but when the National Museum was asked to select exhibits, it was not even on the shortlist."

"Why? Because once you're on the list, you'll be exposed!"

The old lady spoke with great energy, and many tourists who were originally planning to visit the Shuangyangzun consciously gathered around Zhang Yang and the other two.

After the aunt finished speaking, many people looked thoughtful.

Zhang Yang was the same, with a frown on his face.

What the aunt said really made sense, especially since Zhang Yang had some knowledge about bronze ware.

The people at the British Museum did not deal with the green rust spots in the display case at all, allowing them to corrode a treasure worth hundreds of millions.

The situation was like they were afraid that the secret would be exposed after taking the thing out, so they kept it in there for more than ten years without moving it. No one was allowed to touch it, otherwise everyone would suffer.

"It's bad. We need to inform Higgs immediately. The plan has changed. We need to move our target."

Zhang Yang made up his mind almost immediately. It would be not worth it to go through so much trouble and risk getting a fake product.

It’s better to pick up something more stable - yes, it’s you, the Kanghou Gui from the early Western Zhou Dynasty.

A precious bronze ware with an inscription of 24 characters records the Rebellion of the Three Guards in the early Western Zhou Dynasty and also reveals the origin of the surname "Kang".

Although its antique artistic value may not be as high as that of the Double Sheep Zun, if we compare the value of cultural relics, even the Four-Sheep Square Zun may not be as good as it.

"Higgs definitely doesn't care about the replacement. He is just a tool."

"Professor Li should have no objection. After all, which expert or scholar studying bronze artifacts would reject a bronze artifact with so many inscriptions on it?" (End of this chapter)